Dead Sea Scrolls get new lease of life from Google

Digitised texts now online

The Dead Sea Scrolls have joined the growing roster of ageing texts made universally available on the internet thanks to Google.

It's been just 2400 years since the Dead Sea Scrolls were written and already they're up online for the world to peruse on a site hosted by The Israel Museum. Now that's what we call speedy.

The scrolls, which include the oldest known Biblical writings, have been reproduced in high resolution photos that are up to 1,200 megapixels strong.

Great, Isaiah

As well as being able to browse the Great Isaiah Scroll with English translations included in hover-over boxes, you can also search the text of all the scrolls via a text box, and results will show up in relevant Google web searches too.

Penned between the third and first centuries BC and carefully hidden in a safe place that everyone accidentally forgot about for thousands of years between 68 BC and 1947, the scrolls have joined the 21st century and the internet.